Cognitive+Theories+of+Learning

= Cognitive Theories of Learning = (Nicole Katsaounis ...)

Cognitive Theories of Learning



Cognitive Theories of Learning, in its most simple form, focuses on how information is recieved, processed, and stored in the mind. Aquistion of memory can be consious, subconsious, both as information enters through our various senses. Our brain decides what information is worth being stored and what information should be discarded.

__Gestalt:__

Cognitive theories of learning really got is start with the ideologies of Gestalt. He emphasized the processes behind learning, problem solving, and perception. Gestalt proposed that humans have a predisposed way of grouping and learning information, and this is done so by connecting this information to things we already have learned and know, or think we know. __There are four basic ideas behind Gestalt psychology:__

1. Perception is often different from the reality of a situation 2. "The whole is more than the sum of the parts." This means that it is very hard to learn a new concept by just being taught the individual pieces behind it, you must first understand the whole picture before you can begin to understand the inner workings of it. 3. Humans naturally structure and organize their experiences. 4. Humans tend to organize experiences and learning into organized clumps of information; we naturally want to group pieces of information together.

Gestalt was really the forerunner in this new idea of how learning takes place, and of course Paiget, Vyskoski, and others formulated their ideas based off Gestalt's. In more recent times, cognitive theories of learning have focused on actual brain functions as a way to understand the aforementioned theories.

Levels-of-Processing Theory:

The Levels-of-Processing Theory is a popular theory for the act of information processing was identified by Fergus Craik and Robert S. Lockhart in 1972. Its core ideology is the idea that humans process thousands of pieces of infomration and stimuli in a second; however, the only pieces of information that will be stored will be the ones that went through the most thorough mental processes. Research has shown that the more meaning an individual gives to a particular piece of information the more likely they are to remember it. Also, information will be processed quicker and more easily stored if the stimulus can be linked with previous semantic structures in the brain. Semantics is the study of meaning and a semantic network represents meaning that is attached to various conecpts. For example, the aquisition of new knowledge about alegbra will be processed faster for someone who is a mathmetician compared to that same concept being taught to an elementary school student due to the fact the mathemetican has a semantic network of related concepts.

Dual Code Theory: The Dual Code Theory was first advanced by Allan Paivio and it hypothesizes that information is retained in long-term memory through visual and verbal forms. The ideology behind this theory supports that information is stored better and longer when it is presented in two forms versus one due to the fact it holds more meaning to the recipient. In the brain, visual and auditory information is processed through two seperate, distinct channels with each have their processing limitations. Essentially, when the same piece of information is processed through both channels, they can supplement each other's lack in ability therefore giving rise to a higher likelihood of memory. Paivio supported his theory scientifically through CT and fMRI scans, which showed brain activity when a participant was given various stimuli. The paired visual and auditory stimuli was shown to activate large areas of the brain and the participants could more easily remember the information that was given to them versus the information that was presented in either visual or auditory form.

The aforementioned theories are all based on the idea that learning stems from brain function and how humans process information. Let's take an overview look at the brain to better understand where the theories stem from.

__The Brain:__

When we come into contact with new information, whether consciously, unconsciously, or both; we relate it to information we already know or past experiences. The process of aquiring information is very systematic.

The aquisition of new information:

1. First, information is first met by the //__sensory register__//. Sensory registers receive large amounts of various forms of information from all five of our senses, but can only hold this information for a maximum of a few seconds. If the information is not put into a storage process immediately it will be lost. This information usually takes the form of the smells we come into constant contact with, every sound we hear, every conversation we have, and so forth. Although we do remember some of these things, the majority of this type of information is lost on a day to day basis. People must pay attention to the information if they are to retain it.

2. The second step in the aquisition of knowledge is //__short term memory__//, also known as walking memory. Short term memory is a temporary storage system that can hold a limited amount of information, but only for a few seconds. The thoughts or information we are currently thinking about goes into this storage system. This is where information is orgranized, structured, and determined to be important or not. From here, depending on the following steps that are taken, information will either be lost or will go into our long term memory.

3. The final step in the process of learning and remembering is the //__long term memory__// componet. The long term memory componet is a large capacity, long term storage unit unlike the short term memory. It is believed that we will never be able to "fill" our long term memory in a lifetime and that once information is stored there, it will always be there, humans just might not always be able to readily retrieve it. One way to put information into your long term memory is to repeat it over and over, or make the information you are wanting to aquire meaningful to you in some way. When aquiring the information, you must connect it to something that is already in your long term memory.